It was only a week ago when the UFC released an interview with welterweight contender Nick Diaz where he said Georges St-Pierre was “crazy” for not asking for a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva.
The proposed superfight has been theoretically on the table for a number of years, but the UFC has never quite put the pair together on a bout agreement. Following a long absence from fighting due to a knee injury, St-Pierre turned his focus back to the welterweight division and didn’t seem all that interested in fighting Silva when the fight was brought up to him last November following his return win over Carlos Condit at UFC 154.
Diaz criticized St-Pierre because the champion hasn’t asked to fight the absolute best in the world, but if he captures the 170-pound title next weekend, that’s exactly what he plans to do.
Throughout his career, Diaz has fluctuated his weight to face many opponents in different divisions including a brief run as a lightweight once upon a time, as well as some higher catchweight fights like his victory over MMA legend Frank Shamrock in Strikeforce.
“I’ll have to take a long hard look, but if I had that option available to me, I would be honored to be in that position. I would be gratefully accepting of that position, or fight if you will with the 85 pound champion or the 155 pound champion,” Diaz said during a media conference call on Thursday.
Diaz has actually tried to get a spot previously to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and it doesn’t sound like his confidence is waning at all just a week away from battling for the UFC welterweight title in Montreal.
The same can be said for his desire to fight for the UFC lightweight title currently held by Benson Henderson. An interesting side note to that discussion is the fact that Henderson just recently defeated Nick’s younger brother, Nate Diaz, for the second defense of his 155-pound belt.
“I would take either fight and I think I could beat either guy,” Diaz stated. “I’d like to be the guy to win a title at both weights. I’d like to be a runner up in the pound for pound rankings, that’s the No. 1 goal asides from the No. 1 ranking in the welterweight division. That’s what I’ve been working towards here.”
While it’s not likely even with a win that Diaz would get to immediately jump to fight either Silva or Henderson, Diaz‘s willingness to do so shows his fighting spirit is truly at work.
Before he can challenge either other champion, however, Diaz first has to get by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 in Montreal.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report
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